The upper ocean is an important component of climate and climate change. The heat capacity of only a few meters of the ocean is equivalent to the heat capacity of the entire atmosphere. Solar and IR radiation, as well as sensible and latent heat fluxes, are major factors as well. A large amount of cold water is available below the thermocline.
Artificial wave-driven upwelling devices are believed to be able to bring cold water from below the thermocline to the sea surface. Calculations for such pump operation and efficiency can be found, for example, in Vershinsky and Pshenichnyy, and Soloviev (1987, Ref. 3, below).
Typically, in mid-latitudes, warm layers are formed above the seasonal thermocline and a large amount of relatively cold water is available below the thermocline. During winter storms, the thermocline deepens, entraining the colder water from below and thus affecting the heat content of the upper ocean. Evaporation of water takes significant amount of heat from the upper ocean. As is commonly understood, the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere and associated rain activity are thereby dependent on the heat content in the upper ocean.
In coastal areas, seasonal transformations of the heat content of adjacent seas can be an important factor in the local weather and precipitation. An example of such an area is the Levant (Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey and Iran). Winter storms generated over the Mediterranean Sea carry moisture towards Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, and Iran where the moisture precipitates as rain (Tzvetkov and Assaf 1982). A relatively warm sea during the wintertime is the source of heat energy for intense evaporation from the sea surface. The amount of heat stored in the sea during the previous summer is the major energy source for the winter storms that spread precipitation over the Levantine basin. As shown in FIG. 2, there is a high correlation between the heat energy extracted from the sea and the precipitation for the corresponding period from November-December to March-April for Jerusalem (Tzvetkov and Assaf 1982).
Bronicki and Assaf (1980) invented a method of and means for modifying weather in continental arid zones. To store additional heat in the upper layer of the Mediterranean Sea during the summer, they proposed to increase mixing in the upper layer of the sea by creating an artificial upwelling (bringing cold water from deeper layers) using wave-driven pumps. According to Bronski and Assaf (1980), the increase of the precipitation by 10% over the Levant Basin can be achieved by deploying 5,000 wave-driven pumps working in the artificial upwelling regime along about 100 km of coast line on the Mediterranean Sea. The Bronski and Assaf (1980) approach is associated with significant deployment and maintenance costs; and, it potentially creates a problem for navigation on the Israeli shore of the Mediterranean Sea. Furthermore, the additional heat accumulated in the upper layer of the sea will be carried away from the Israeli shore by surface currents. According to Rosentraub and Brenner (2007), the surface current can reach 1 knot in the upper 50 m-100 m layer of the sea in this area.
The patent of Bowers et al. (2009) and the related group of patents introduce a wave induced downwelling. The operational principle of this system is not effective for moving the warm surface water to sufficiently deep layers.